7 nature encounters for the month ahead

WITH NATURALIST AND AUTHOR BEN HOARE

- BEN HOARE

Snow time

SNOW BUNTINGS ARE GORGEOUS little birds. They're also tough cookies that eke out an existence on windswept sand dunes and shingle beaches in winter. Somehow, they manage to find enough fallen grass and wildflower seeds to make it through. In Britain, most are visitors from Iceland and Scandinavia, and they tend to stick to Scottish and eastern coasts. When a flock of them take off, it looks like a flurry of snow.

Small fry

IN TEMPERATE PARTS OF THE WORLD winter is a time of deep rest for amphibians and reptiles, and for many invertebrates and plants, too. The change of pace can also profoundly affect our own rhythms, as Tiffany Francis-Baker explains in her illustrated guide to seasonal living, Ebb and Flow. "The quietude of winter is a message from the natural world," she says, "prompting us to slow down and restore our minds and bodies."